


We Can Be Heroes (just for one day)

by DreamerInSilico



Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-04
Updated: 2018-12-03
Packaged: 2019-09-06 20:59:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16840315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DreamerInSilico/pseuds/DreamerInSilico
Summary: Thane and F!Shepard fluffy bits from Tumblr.





	1. Shore Leave

When the mad rush of adrenaline from just _barely_ making it back through the Omega Four relay ahead of the explosions finally subsided, the first thing she had said was, “Shore leave. You and me. Where to?” 

And his expressive eyes had blinked once, slowly, and grown heated at the prospects. "I did want to show you more of Illium, and that’s a more convenient stop for much of the rest of the crew…“ 

"Done and done.”

And in the time it took for showers to be had and the two of them to pass out, exhausted and entangled on Shepard’s bed to sleep off the 'suicide mission’ where no one had died, there they were. 

…

The fluttering fabric of the dress she wore was an unfamiliar and luxurious thing to Shepard, so used to her marine’s fatigues and her armor. But it seemed fitting on this planet of dancing lights upon soaring towers - a soft veneer over steel, like all the asari worlds. Thane had trilled with surprised delight when he saw it, and had scarcely stopped tracing his cool fingers along the swirling designs or through her loose hair since they’d debarked the ship. 

Somehow, after a meal and a few drinks, they’d ended up in a rooftop garden, listening to some asari-elcor synth band. The music was passable, but the fresh wind, the _lights,_ the trees and paths, and…

…privacy. 

That was a rare and wonderful thing, indeed. 


	2. Immunity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ME3 ending fix-it.

“Shepard!” 

The voice came over… wait, where _was_ her commlink? Her helmet had been blown off in the blast from the Reaper, but she could hear the voice from Alliance command, loud and clear. She blinked heavy eyes, but otherwise did not respond. She was tired, so very tired… Some part of her mind knew she should be alarmed at the slick, hot blood coating her hand, but it was hard to muster the strength to care. She had done her part. Let someone else handle the rest. 

“Commander Shepard!” 

The battered woman let out a sigh that felt like her last breath. “I’m here. What do – “ her breath hitched painfully – “What do you need me to do?” 

“The Crucible isn’t firing – must be something on your end.” 

Muttering curses against any and every deity ever worshipped by a sentient race, Shepard staggered forward, but fell short of the console. There was light, so much light, and she barricaded her eyes against it as the platform that held her began to rise. 

If there was a heaven, maybe she was on her way to it, now. Garrus had promised her drinks, and Thane – oh, Thane. Thane had been with her in that mad dash for the beam, and she knew with a horrible certainty that he hadn’t made it, the gift of years bequeathed by an eleventh-hour lung transplant cruelly, ironically obliterated by the Reapers. Otherwise he’d have been by her side. Would she cross his Kalihira’s ocean to meet him? 

Probably not. She had died once, after all, and there had been… simply nothing. She made a sound that might have been a sob, if she’d been able to draw a deeper breath. 

Somehow she was standing again, and the child from Earth was speaking to her. The words gripped her mind with the illogical certainty of a dream, and angrily she tried to push herself to clarity. She had a very important decision to make, and what he was saying didn’t make _any sense_ , but she had to listen carefully or she might screw this up and then the whole galaxy would pay. 

She had to do this, and then she could rest. 

The beam was just ahead. Why was she choosing this one, again? Legion. For Legion. The voice in the back of her brain was complaining loudly that this was impossible, the child could not have been right, but the rest of her only wanted an end to this. She would clean up one last galactic mess, and then she would be done. 

The beam was blinding as she jumped into it, and she could feel her eyes and skin burning away, everything scattered into shimmering energy –

Images flashed through her mind, faces. Her parents, her friends. She saw the Normandy speeding away from a green pulse of light, careening into a verdant planet, but somehow Joker salvaged the landing… he really was the best pilot in the fleet… and her crew emerged little the worse for wear. Some part of her smiled. There was EDI, and Liara, and Thane…

…wait, Thane? But he had been with her… how…?!

The image dissolved into sparks and flashes, then darkness. 

…

There was a pressure on her arm. Warm scales. 

“Siha, come back to me.” 

Her eyes were slow to open, and felt slightly gritty, but they worked. Shepard flexed her fingers. Skin fully intact, though a slight burning across her hips spoke of the mild rash that she never could quite seem to allow to fade completely. 

“What was I –?” 

Thane loosed an amused rumble and pulled her close to his silken-scaled chest. “By the things you were saying, I believe you were, as you put it yesterday, ‘trippin’ balls.’” 

Shepard snorted a surprised laugh – the human slang didn’t suit his voice at all. “Yeah, that’s about right. That one was _weird_ , and pretty awful. Re-lived the last battle, only… well, nothing at all made sense. You were dead, and then you were alive and on some untouched garden world, and I had to talk to the human kid I tried to save back on Earth, only he was made of light and telling me I had to choose what the Crucible would do, and then everything would change by… space magic, or something, I don’t even know… “ She trailed off, shaking her head. 

“That does sound… unpleasant. I am here, the Reapers are gone, and you are the toast of the galaxy, siha.” 

Shepard nuzzled into his shoulder, smiling faintly. “I know. Good thing Chakwas said I’ll acclimate to drell chemistry eventually – it’d totally be worth it, but I’d rather not be coming up with new and nonsensical ways to martyr myself for the rest of my life if I can help it.” 

“Mmm. Indeed.” He dipped his head suddenly to lay a hot, open-mouthed kiss on her pale throat, and she let out a startled, delighted gasp. 

“You’re awfully frisky tonight – not that I have any complaints!” 

She could hear the smile in his voice as he trilled, “I take the task of building up your immunity very seriously.” 


End file.
